(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to attachable brakes for wheelchairs.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Before our invention a problem existed with respect to maintaining wheelchairs stationary when loading patients or controlling the wheelchair when wheeling patients up or down ramps. A wheelchair with a patient therein has substantial momentum. When being pushed by a petite nurse or orderly it is not easily stopped. Therefore, some means of braking the wheelchair is needed.
Some workers in the art have employed mechanisms by which the patient can brake the wheelchair, and others have provided means by which a nurse or orderly pushing the wheelchair could apply the brake.
For example, MANISCALCO, U.S. Pat. No. 2,654,416, employs a brake frame on which a handle is mounted, pivoted to a walker frame and having a stop connected to the brake frame. When the handle is depressed by the patient, the stop contacts the wheel, thereby braking the walker. This device forms an integral part of the walker.
MARSHALL, U.S. Pat. No. 3,529,700, employs stops pivoted to the wheelchair frame which are held in contact with the wheels by springs. Levers pivoted to the wheelchair frame are connected by a flexible link to handles mounted on hand grips of the wheelchair. The nurse or orderly pushing the wheelchair from the rear disengages the stops from the wheels by squeezing the handles and handgrips together. The brake is normally set until disengaged by the operator or the weight of a patient in the wheelchair. The brake assembly also forms an integral part of, and is not readily detachable from, the wheelchair. The brake cannot be applied with a patient in the wheelchair.
An additional device conceived by Eddie Lunsford of Lubbock, Tex. became known to us before this application was filed. The Lunsford device employed bicycle caliper brakes connected to a bracket affixed to the wheelchair frame and connected to a handle on a handgrip by a flexible link. When the handle and handgrip were squeezed together, the bicycle calipers operated to come axially in contact with the wheel, thereby providing a braking force. The Lunsford device formed an integral part of the wheelchair structure.
The following are other prior devices of which we were aware prior to filing this application:
Finkbeiner, et al: 1,917,440; PA0 Carter: 2,362,466; PA0 Ames: 2,437,778; PA0 Johnson: 3,237,940; PA0 Eagleson, Jr., et al: 3,302,757.